Nous sommes EAME

by Groff Schroeder

Another mass murder. Another "lone nut."  Another brilliant upcoming objective Public Servant who dared to serve the People (instead of The people) dead - along with many others who dared to associate with him.

Why in America are guns beloved far above true Public Servants?  Why are the taxes that pay their salaries - and fund the sewers, emergency services, public infrastructure, and public welfare we all depend upon - hated, reviled, and evaded in a way that was once illegal but now has become a way of life?  How can an IRS Recognized 501c4 organization (the Club for Growth) be wildly successful even as their seeming official goal is apparently to destroy the United States of America (drown [American] Government "in a bathtub")?  How can We the People stand by as organizations like the National Rifle Association (not to mention countless corporations that pay no taxes and even receive taxpayer funded subsidies) nakedly, openly, and repeatedly pay off our alleged "representatives" through a system of legalized bribery euphemistically called "campaign financing?"

Why do self described "patriots" seem to work to ensure even the mentally ill and convicted violent felons retain full, complete, unregulated, and easy access to firearms - even as they at least sometimes appear to demand that the poorest among us be left to starve?  Why do We the People allow Our "elected" "representatives" to openly swim in a cesspool of legalized international Bribery cynically mislabeled as "campaign donations" - even when the result is repeated mass murder of children and all too often includes the public assassination (or attempted assassination) of  elected representatives?

You -> YOU <- are 20 times more likely to be killed by gun violence in the United States than an individual in any other "advanced nation" on earth.

Don't get me wrong, I used to love guns.  But the first gun shot wound I saw in my more than 20 year career in Emergency Medical Services was a Law Enforcement Officer who shot himself in the hand with his service weapon despite countless hours of paid training.  I have had to stand by, unable to help as children died from gunshot wounds.  I know my evidence is only "anecdotal," but I have close connections to at least three (3) police officers killed by gun shot wounds.  I have cared for at least 13 people with gun shot wounds. Only ONE (1) of which was a "bad guy," the rest being public servants, gun owners, their family members, and their friends.

Shooting a gun was the first thing I could do well in my life - but guns are no fun for me anymore.

It is time to stop "campaign donations" from business/Bribery interests like the National Rifle Association from openly RULING America by writing US Law.  It is time to end the naked corruption that has allowed unbridled Bribery to destroy our, safety, our freedom and the Constitution - placing the Second Amendment above all other Amendments, as well as the Constitution itself.

There is only ONE (1) problem in America today: the legalized Bribery that allows billionaire corporations, individuals, and organizations to buy what they want in the United States Congress.  This naked bribery appears to be probably the primary reason why America can't keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons and the mentally ill - and why mass murder by firearm appears to be so prevalent in America today.

Everything above this line represents my own, personal point of view.  What follows below is my official statement on behalf of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs.

As the President of the Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, I know I speak for the Board of Directors and every member of our organization when I send my condolences, sympathy, and thoughts to those bearing burdens associated with the horrific murders at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston South Carolina due to the latest - but almost certainly not the last - act of unregulated gun violence in the United States of America.

June 19, 2015